[Rick Masters]

Davinci Resolve Lite is a pro video editing program by Blackmagic Design. Based on the industry standard Davinci Resolve, it is designed to allow the colorist and editor to work together in cinema production. Davinci Resolve Lite is free. You will need a Blackmagic input card on a powerful Windows computer. Probably the best bargain in pro video editing software right now.
https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/produc ... nciresolve

[Bob Kuczewski]

I think the title should be around Linux and this is why. Linux tends to attract independent thinkers and the number of Linux users here is way out of proportion. There is a philosophy centered around open source freeware that is attractive to this group and that is that these tools shouldn't be held for ransom. There is also a belief and hope that open source will advance faster as more people participate and these already excellent applications will become more and more powerful.

I agree with that (except that some applications - like Blender - are multi-platform, so "Linux" might turn away Windows and Mac users). Here's what I was proposing:

Right now this topic is found via:

    Board index / U.S. Hawks Association / Blog Forum / Linux for Hawks

If I were to create a new "Technology" forum (for lack of a better name right now) it would be:

    Board index / U.S. Hawks Association / Technology Forum / Linux for Hawks

So it would still be the "Linux for Hawks" topic, but in a different location. And in that location might also be found "Blender for Hawks", "Gimp for Hawks", "Python for Hawks" or whatever else might fit. Since this will be mostly computer technology, we could call it that. But that forum might also be a place for photographic "technology" including discussions on GoPros and camera mounts. It might even contain discussions on hang gliding "technology" like new materials and designs.

I'm just trying to organize our forum to keep like stuff together (as much as possible). Also, note that I can have topics appear in multiple places. So the "Linux for Hawks" topic could "live" here in the Blog forum, but it could also appear in the "Technology" forum. So if I do create a new forum, I will probably create such a "link" to this topic so it appears in both places.

So if you have a better name than "Technology Forum", please let me know. I'm going to start with "Technology Forum" just to test it out now, but I can change it very easily.

Thanks for all your great contributions to the US Hawks!!

Update: I just finished creating the new forum, and this topic now appears in both places.

[Rick Masters]

Linux Basics
Authors: Jordan Hayes, Grant Brady & Thomas Girke, UC Riverside
http://manuals.bioinformatics.ucr.edu/home/linux-basics

The Linux Documentation Project http://www.tldp.org/guides.html includes

Introduction to Linux - A Hands on Guide
Author: Machtelt Garrels
http://www.tldp.org/LDP/intro-linux/htm ... linux.html

GNU/Linux Command-Line Tools Summary
Authors: Gareth Anderson
http://www.tldp.org/LDP/GNU-Linux-Tools ... mmary.html

Manuals search at Ubuntu.com
http://manpages.ubuntu.com/

[Rick Masters]

Spent most of yesterday playing around with AV Linux.
http://www.linuxinsider.com/story/80421.html
Downloaded the .iso file from
http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=avlinux
burned it with Brasero on my Linux single-processor rig, then booted the live disk on my dual Xeon Windows machine. Instant gratification. It is a beautifully integrated GUI specially designed with low latency for musicians and video freaks. Fast! It is absolutely packed with so many open source programs my head was swimming. It even has Cinelera!
http://cinelerra.org/1/
The most amazing thing is that everything worked. I used KdenLive to sweeten a music video.
https://kdenlive.org/
I even used GParted from within AV Linux Live to re-size my Windows partition (to make room for a Linux partition and Linux swap partition) without affecting Windows. You could spend years learning to master everything in this distro. Heck, I could spend years just trying to make everything work together. It's amazing to discover AV Linux has already done that. Highly recommended.

[Bob Kuczewski]

The most amazing thing is that everything worked.

I first started using Linux in the mid 90's, and it was extremely difficult to get get a working system with anything above 640x480 graphics.

Linux has come a long way since then!!!!     

[Merlin]

I recently installed Debian Wheezy (stable) on several different machines and had quite a different experience with each one ( using the same ISO ). I probably won't judge a distro on a single install in the future.

My transition came when I was pretty much forced to move from XP to Win7. None of my old software would even install, my digital camera had no drivers, etc - nothing worked. Yes, there were hacks around some of this stuff - but I figured if I had to hack Win7 why not move to Linux and do the hacking with it?

Learning Linux is like learning to work on your car. It starts out frustrating and expensive (your time) - but eventually ends up empowering and saving you gobs of money.

[Bob Kuczewski]

Learning Linux is like learning to work on your car. It starts out frustrating and expensive (your time) - but eventually ends up empowering and saving you gobs of money.

Great analogy!!!     

The key word there is "empowering" - although it will seem like the opposite for a loooong time.

[Harry]

GIMP is somewhat equivalent to Adobe Photoshop. I have found that I can do almost everything I did with Photoshop with respectable results using GIMP. GIMP is open source freeware and works with Windows and Linux. Download here.
http://www.gimp.org/

Works for me. I layout and draw all my cartoons with it now. Once I figured out how to edit and save paint dynamics, the cartoon work got a lot easier. I do professional illustration using Gimp for magazines and trade publications.

[Bob Kuczewski]

Hi Harry!!!

It's great to see you finding your way around the forum!!!     

I have to confess that I still "limp" with Gimp, but I find it super for making animated GIF's from a sequence of images or drawings. This example was written in Java which produced the frames as images. I used Gimp to put them together into the animation:

LittleHawk_f128_20ms.gif (132.25 KiB) Viewed 10385 times

If you ever want to conduct Gimp a tutorial for the Hawks, I'll be the first one in line!!!

Welcome again.  

Bob

[Harry]

Bob,

Not sure how well I could tutor Gimp. Be glad to answer any questions as my knowledge only covers my needs. Though I have been using it extensively for drawings and illustration, I have yet to create any animated GIFs with it.

I am wondering if any of the US Hawks "skin" buttons and such can be modified to give this site more of a hang gliding character (look). Stuff like adding wind socks, gliders, helmets, clouds, etc. to spice it up a bit.

Example: Instead of a house for a home button, use a target (white circles) and a wind sock like that found in the LZ.
Technology blog could be marked using a Colver Vario graphic. The possibilities are endless.